President assures immediate financial relief to hoteliers

• Hoteliers seek moratorium on interest and capital payments, rescheduling of loans and soft loans for working capital requirements
• Occupancy in Colombo hotels hits 7% as booking cancellations reach 90%, against 50% occupancy before attacks 

By Nishel Fernando

President Maithripala Sirisena assured immediate financial relief to Sri Lanka’s hotel sector amid booking cancellations and slowdown in forward bookings in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombing that targeted churches and hotels in Colombo.

Sirisena in a meeting with the key stakeholders of Sri Lanka’s tourism sector yesterday morning had favourably responded to the financial assistance sought by the hoteliers, including a possible moratorium of a period of two years on both the capital and interest payments on their loans.

Speaking to Mirror Business, The Hotels Association of Sri Lanka Vice President M. Shanthikumar said that the hoteliers also requested for a provision of soft loans to finance the working capital requirements during the difficult period, as well as to reschedule the loans taken by the hoteliers in the country.

He said President Sirisena responded to their requests “very positively” and directed the relevant authorities to consider favourably the hoteliers’ requests, as the tourism sector would be the worst hit industry from the Easter Sunday bombings, where three five-star hotels in Colombo were attacked.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, relevant line ministers, Central Bank Governor Dr. Indrajit Coomaraswamy and top government officials also attended the meeting.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Association of Inbound Tour Operators (SLAITO) President Harith Perera said the SLAITO is planning to present a white paper to the government on the Easter Sunday bombing’s impact on the tourism sector, in which the association may also seek financial relief for its tour operators and impacted partners.

“We may need to seek some relief from the government because summer will not be so good. However, there are some inquiries coming in as well. We are trying to figure out the actual impact, what sort of impact it will have on the industry,” he said. 

The Finance Ministry has estimated that Sri Lanka could witness up to 30 percent drop in tourist arrivals this year, with a US $ 1.5 billion loss in earnings. 

Jetwing Travel and Hotels Chairperson Shiromal Cooray told Mirror Business that the tour operators in the UK, China, The Netherlands, Germany and some Scandinavian countries deferred their bookings for the time being, following the travel advisories.  

Hence, she noted that the cash flows of hoteliers would be impacted. 

Despite the current trend, both Cooray and Sri Lanka Tourism chief Kishu Gomes said it was encouraging to see some tourists still visiting the country.

“There are clients who are still coming; there are also people who are inquiring. Though not in usual numbers, there are people coming,” Cooray noted.

However, according to Shanthikumar, the occupancy levels of Colombo city hotels have hit rock bottom as the booking cancellations reached 90 percent, bringing down the occupancy rate to mere 7 percent. 

Prior to last Easter Sunday, the Colombo city hotels had around 50 percent occupancy levels on average. 

He noted that the tourism industry will take a step-by-step approach to lift or soften the current travel advisories by several countries warning their citizens against visiting Sri Lanka. 
The Finance Ministry expects Sri Lanka’s tourism sector to fully recover in one to two years.